Fear
by MoonlightSpirit
Summary: When the Gaang flies over a battlefield, the Gaang discovers a fear of Katara's that only Sokka knew about. Zuko goes to comfort her and tells her a two fears that he himself has. One makes Katara laugh, but the other has to do with her.


**I thought of this after realizing my own fear, a fear of dead things (seeing something dead just makes my skin crawl, weather it be on TV or in real life o.0) and thinking of my own fear of spiders. I think Katara came to mind because it must have been traumatic to her to see her mother dead at such a young age. So here's **_**Fear**_**.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**

Aang, Sokka, Katara, Toph and Suki was currently on Appa, looking for a place to camp out for the night. Toph was the first to mention something. Her nosed wrinkled.

"Oh, spirits, what is that stench?" Toph said, "Sokka, put your shoes back on."

"It's not me," Sokka said, the smell reaching his nose. Eventually, everyone could smell it. Appa let out a groan of disgust.

"Aang, what's that up there?" Sokka asked, pointing to a spot on the ground. Among the green of the forest, there was an odd mixture of black, red and green, not far from them. Aang brought Appa lower and then, with a chill, they could clearly see what it was.

"There was a battle here," Zuko mumbled. The burnt ground was covered with the dead rotting bodies of Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom soldiers. A small sound, like a wounded animal, came from behind Zuko. He turned to see Katara sitting in a corner of the saddle, looking deathly pale. Sokka glanced at his sister.

"Aang, I think you better land," Sokka said. Aang looked back, noticing the urgency in Sokka's voice, and saw Katara looking as if she was about to faint. He turned Appa away from the battle field and far away so that the stench was behind them. When they landed in a field, Katara was the first one off Appa and running into the forest. There was soon a loud retching sound.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Suki asked as everyone got off Appa.

"Katara has a fear of anything dead," Sokka said.

"What do you mean?" Toph asked, "She cooks dead animals all the time."

"Well animals she doesn't mind," Sokka said, "She was use to seeing that back in the South Pole. But before our mother died, Katara never saw a dead body. Katara was only about three when she saw our mother's dead body. Ever since then, Katara could never stand the sight of a dead human body."

"I'll go check on her," Zuko said, following Katara into the forest. He found her leaning against a tree. As she retched again, Zuko held her hair back. She looked up, surprised, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"No problem," he said softly.

"Can you help me to the lake?" Katara asked, her voice still quite, "I saw one on the way here." Zuko nodded, letting Katara lean most of her weight on him as she staggered to the lake, which was not far. Katara sat on the shore, breathing in the sent of the water, feeling her nausea leave her.

"Are you okay?" Zuko asked her. Katara nodded.

"You must think I'm pathetic," she said softly, "Getting scared over something like this. I mean, we're in a war, of course I'm gonna see dead bodies-"

"Your not pathetic," Zuko interrupted, "Sokka told us what happened to you. I can understand why you reacted the way you did." Katara hugged her knees to her chest, resting her head in her arms.

"When I saw my mother's body," she said softly, "I tried to wake her up. And she wouldn't. She never woke up again. I was terrified. Now every time I see a dead body, I think of it as one more person who will never wake up again." Tears began to fall down Katara's cheeks. To her surprise, Zuko wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. Katara rested her head on his shoulder, letting her tears fall.

"It's okay," Zuko said softly, rubbing her arm in a soothing matter, "If it makes you feel better, I have a fear that's really pathetic." Zuko reached up a hand to wipe Katara's tears away.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Spiders," Zuko said with a shiver. Katara giggled.

"You?" she giggled, "Scared of spiders?"

"When I lived in the palace, it was always kept clean of any pests or rodents," Zuko said, "But when I was banished, I had to deal with those things. I was okay with bugs and rats. But when I first saw a spider, with all those eyes and legs..." Zuko shivered. Katara bit back another giggle.

"So, your feeling better?" Zuko asked. Katara nodded, looking up at Zuko at the same time Zuko looked down at her. Their eyes met and a shock ran through both of them. Katara felt Zuko's hand twitch the slightest bit on her arm.

"Do you want to know another fear I have?" Zuko whispered in a low voice. Katara nodded, her voice seeming to have left her.

"To do this," he said, leaning down to capture Katara's lips in a tender kiss. Katara felt her eyes flutter shut as she kissed back. Her hand reached up to his scarred cheek, gently tracing the rough skin. When Zuko backed away, he looked into Katara's eyes, searching for what he reaction was. To his relief, Katara smiled and leaned forward to kiss him again, this kiss having more passion than the last. When they parted again, Katara was beaming her beautiful smile at Zuko. Zuko gave her one of his rare smiles.

"We better be getting back," he whispered in her ear. Katara nodded. She and Zuko stood and made their way back to camp, Zuko slipping his hand into Katara's while she snuggled close to his side/ Unknown to them, there was a certain earthbender with strong hearing that had heard their conversation. When Zuko and Katara returned to camp, Toph was the first to say, "Hey Zuko, there's a spider near your foot." Zuko screamed an unusually high pitched scream and ran away to the nearest tree.

"Kill it!" he said, "Kill it now!" Aang, Sokka, Suki and Toph were roaring in laughter while Katara was trying to help Zuko away from the tree, fighting back giggles herself after hearing his scream.

"Zuko, remember that other thing you feared?" Katara whispered to him, "About me?"

"Yeah," Zuko said.

"Well if you don't get away from that tree, you won't get it anymore," Katara turned and walked away. Not a second later, Zuko was right at her side. Between staying away from spiders and kissing Katara, he picked kissing Katara. Sometimes, you just have to face your fears to get what you want.

**There's **_**Fear**_**. I hope you liked this! Please Review!**


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